Fenghou

"There are about 20 shi of grain."

A hint of surprise flashed in Chen Qing's eyes, and he confirmed again: "Are you sure there are so many?"

"I don't dare to lie. There are indeed so many. Our Taohe Valley is originally a land of grain production. The Xixia people pay a heavy tax. They collect [-]% of military expenses and taxes per mu. They have accumulated so much in two years. I heard that They are planning to transport it to Lanzhou before the year."

Chen Qing put his heart down, as long as he has 20 shi of grain, he will be more calm.

"How much grain is there at the county warehouse?"

"There are about [-] to [-] shi of grain in the county warehouse. The villain doesn't know how much there is. We are not responsible for that."

At this time, Yang Zaixing came running over, clasped his fists to Chen Qing and said, "All the prisoners of war have been escorted to the barracks, but there is an important situation, the humble officer must report it in time!"

"What important situation?"

"We thought there were [-] enemy troops in the city, but now we find that the number is not that many. After asking, we found out that [-] troops were transferred to Dangchuan County yesterday."

There are only two counties in Lintao Prefecture, one is Didao County, and the other is Dangchuan County. Dangchuan County is located in a mountainous area, and its importance is far less than Didao County.

But Chen Qing was a little surprised. The defenders of Didao County should have found themselves the day before yesterday. At this critical juncture, they usually gather troops from all over the country to Didao County. Why are they doing the opposite now and evacuating the troops?

"Do you know the reason why a thousand soldiers were evacuated?" Chen Qing asked.

Yang Zaixing shook his head, "The humble official didn't ask the reason!"

At this time, the steward next to him whispered: "Jiedushi, maybe the villain knows the reason!"

Chen Qing turned around and looked at him and asked, "Tell me, why?"

"Report to Jiedushi, there is a large silver mine in Dangchuan County. Last year, the Xixia army escorted a group of miners from an iron mine in the north. There were about 8000 people. They mined silver mines in Dangchuan County. These thousand soldiers went with a thousand camels, probably to transport the smelted rough silver back to Lanzhou."

"How much silver did they refine?"

"Small... the villain doesn't know!"

"You can't be ignorant, tell me quickly!" Chen Qing's eyes were as sharp as a knife.

The steward was terrified, "The villain has inquired, and the rough silver is no less than one hundred thousand catties."

One hundred thousand catties is 160 million taels of silver. The miners have been here for more than a year. Will there be such a large output?

"You didn't tell the truth!" Chen Qing's knife-like gaze pierced into the steward's heart.

The steward knelt down in fright, "As far as I know, I never lied to Jiedushi, but I don't know if there is one hundred thousand catties or more, I have never seen real silver."

"You were in Dangchuan County last year?" Chen Qing's eyes softened a little.

"At the beginning of the year, I went there once to escort food."

"Do you think eight thousand mine slaves can produce one hundred thousand catties of crude silver in one year? Is it possible?"

"This is what the manager of the silver mine told the villain himself while drinking. He told me that there are [-] catties of crude silver in the warehouse, and there will be [-] catties by the end of the year."

"How far is it from here to Dangchuan County?" Chen Qing asked calmly.

"For about eighty miles, it's all mountain roads!"

"Can you go cavalry?"

"Of course, it's just not as flat as the official river valley road."

Chen Qing secretly calculated that the camel team should not have arrived in Dangchuan County yet, with a journey of [-] miles since they set off yesterday.

Chen Qing immediately said to Yang Zaixing: "You lead five thousand cavalry to Dangchuan County immediately, and you must stop this camel caravan!"

"Humble post obeys orders!"

Yang Zaixing turned around and hurried away.

Chen Qing then said to Niu Gao: "You hand over the warehouse to Hu Yanyun to take over, and you don't care about it. Immediately fill up the holes in the city wall and organize soldiers to defend. The cavalry we ambushed today is only the vanguard army. There should be more cavalry behind us." The main force, don't be careless!"

"The humble job will be arranged immediately!"

Niu Gao took the steward to find Hu Yanyun.

Chen Qing probably already understood that the [-] catties of crude silver might not be fake, and there should still be stock here, but the question is, how come he never knew that there was a Guichuan silver mine?

Not only myself, but the officials of Qinzhou and Gongzhou don't know, what secret is hidden in it?

……

Chen Qing came to the Jingluefu Yamen on Xihe Road to the west of the warehouse, but it is now renamed Hehuang Junsi Fuya by the Xixia people. There are twelve military divisions in Xixia, and they plan to set up No.13 military divisions in Hehuang.

Of course, the Xixia people's ambitions are far from being completed. They still have a lot of obstacles before annexing the entire Xihe Road area. The complex relationship between the Tubo people and the Qiang people.

They are also aware of these huge obstacles, so the Military Division Office is still located in Lanzhou.

The government office occupies a large area and is also the core of the city. It has been occupied by the Song army. Hundreds of soldiers are busy cleaning up the official office, driving out all the Xixia officials living in the official office, and dozens of Xixia women. They all squatted aside tremblingly, guarded by soldiers of the Song Army.

The government office is also an important place to store supplies. There is an ice cellar in the backyard, which stores a lot of meat and wine.

There was also a money bank, which was managed by Xixia officials, but the person could not be found. The soldiers directly smashed the big lock and began to count the belongings inside.

Chen Qing saw the soldiers coming in and out of the government office, quite busy, so he didn't bother him, and turned to the barracks to rest. It was already midnight, and he hadn't slept for three consecutive nights, and he was really tired.

As soon as the group arrived at the gate of the barracks, Liu Cui hurried out with an official.

"General Liu, why haven't you rested yet?"

This time Chen Qing brought three commanders, Yang Zaixing, Liu Cui and Niu Gao, each commanding [-] troops. Yang Zaixing led [-] cavalry to Dangchuan County, and Niu Gao's [-] infantry were on duty tonight. , Liu Cui's [-] cavalry rested and replaced Niu Gao's infantry during the day tomorrow.

"The humble officer found out that the county lieutenant of this county is a Han Chinese. He knows the situation of the Xixia people in the city better. The humble officer handed him over to General Niu, and then came back to rest."

Chen Qing saw that this person was only 30 years old, and he looked gentle, so he asked, "What's your name? Are you from this county?"

The chief secretary bowed and said: "The villain's name is Huang Yaozong, and he was originally the county magistrate. Because the villain can speak the party language and understand their characters, the Xixia people appointed the villain as the county captain to assist their county magistrate in managing Didao County. .”

Chen Qing nodded, "You go to see General Niu first, and you come to see me tomorrow morning!"

"Little man obeys!"

Chen Qing asked some simple questions again, and asked his own soldiers to take Huang Yaozong to meet Niu Gao, and he and Liu Cui entered the barracks.

Chapter 436

Early the next morning, Liu Cui's army took over the defense of the county seat. After a night of cleaning up, the Xixia people's army and government forces in Didao County were basically wiped out, and there was no possibility of cooperation from inside and outside.

But Didao County was occupied by the Xixia people for two years after all. Even if the official forces were eliminated, there were still a large number of private forces.

Chen Qing led the soldiers to patrol the streets. Martial law was still enforced on the streets, and people were not allowed to go out. There were patrolling soldiers everywhere, and there was a tense atmosphere in the city.

Teams of soldiers searched from house to house, mainly targeting the big families and shops of the Xixia people, asking them to hand over their weapons, otherwise they would be severely punished.

Chen Qing first came to the cavity in the southeast corner of the city wall. After a busy night, the cavity was completely filled with soil, and the outer wall was rebuilt. Dozens of soldiers were building another wall.

Chen Qing accidentally saw the County Captain Huang Yaozong was there, what was he talking to Liu Cui?

"Everyone is here!"

A soldier reminded him in a low voice, and Liu Cui hurried forward, "See Du Tong!"

"Did you make it up last night?" Chen Qingxiao asked.

Liu Cui hurriedly said: "Last night's patch has already been repaired. Just now Huang Xiancheng told me that there is another hole that is also two feet wide. I just asked the soldiers to patch it up."

Chen Qing glanced at Huang Yaozong and said with a smile: "The county captain also knows that there is a hole here?"

"The hole in the city wall here was first discovered by Beizhi. Beizhi told Wuzhi County. In fact, many Han officials in our county government knew about it, but no one said anything."

Chen Qing nodded approvingly, "I want to know the situation in the city, let's go to the top of the city and talk!"

Chen Qing smiled at Liu Cui again and said, "You also come together."

When everyone went to the top of the city, Chen Qing slowly asked: "How many Dangxiang people are there among the people in the city, are they difficult to rule?"

"Reporting to Jiedushi, there are about [-]% of the Dangxiang residents in the city."

"There are so many?"

"Dangxiang people are also divided into two types. One is old residents who have lived for more than 20 or [-] years. This kind of party people is not in danger. The other is new immigrants who have migrated over the past two years. They have taken the best Industry, the best house, and the establishment of the Dangxiang Fuxing Society, which is equivalent to the Song Dynasty bow and arrow society and other militias, with weapons and armor, very dangerous."

"Is there a list of these new immigrants?" Chen Qing asked.

Next to him, Liu Cui said, "The county government has a roster, and the county magistrate Huang has been assigned to a lowly position. The lowly position arranges for soldiers to go door-to-door to search for weapons."

Chen Qing nodded and asked again: "How much do you know about the silver mine in Guichuan County?"

Huang Yaozong smiled bitterly and shook his head, "I know that there is a silver mine over there, but there is no record in the government. I really don't know much about it. I only know that the silver mine is relatively secret. .”

"Then who knows better?"

Huang Yaozong thought for a while and said, "The former Wuzhi County should know that he was transferred from Guichuan County."

"Wu Hongwei?"

"Yes! It's him, he should be very clear."

Said Cao Cao, and Cao Cao arrived. At this time, a soldier came forward to report: "Report to Dutong, the former Wuzhi County said that he was ordered by Dutong, and came to report."

It happened just in time, Chen Qingxiao asked, "Where is he now?"

"Wait in the government office."

Chen Qing turned to Liu Cui and said: "The most urgent task now is to clear out the new immigrants from the party. If you search for their weapons, you may not be able to find them. The key is people. You must be decisive. First, all the men over the age of 14 and under the age of 50 should be detained. After the Xixia army has withdrawn, we will deal with them slowly."

"Humble job understands!"

Chen Qing said to Huang Yaozong again: "Assist General Liu with all your strength to deal with this matter well, and I will appoint you as the county magistrate!"

"Humble job must do its best!"

……

Chen Qing rushed to the office of Jinglue envoy in a hurry, and Wu Hongwei was sitting in the lobby waiting, looking a little nervous, at this moment, Chen Qing walked into the lobby, Wu Hongwei hurriedly stood up and saluted, "See Dutong!"

"Sit down and talk!"

Chen Qing smiled and asked him to sit down, and then served tea to the soldiers.

"I didn't expect Dutong to take Didao County so quickly."

"It's also thanks to the information you provided! Otherwise, I don't know how many people would die in the street fighting in the city."

"Humble officials also hope that innocent people will not be hurt."

The two exchanged a few words of pleasantries, then Chen Qing changed the subject and asked, "I really want to know about the silver mine in Guichuan County, and I hope that the county magistrate will tell you everything!"

Wu Hongwei was silent for a moment and asked, "Is this silver mine important to Dutong?"

"Yes! It's very important, it's related to my future military expenses."

Wu Hongwei nodded, "This silver mine has actually existed for more than ten years. It was discovered by Liu Fa, who was led by Xihe Jinglue. At that time, the Western Army was also facing the dilemma of poor treatment and low salary. They also racked their brains. After discovering this silver mine, the senior generals of the Western Army unanimously agreed to mine silver privately to supplement military expenditures, but they also knew that this was a big taboo. The matter of the silver mine was concealed.

In the third year of Xuanhe, officials from the Sanshi Division Mine Cao came to check it out, and were fooled by the generals with the lead ore prepared in advance, but they still did not dare to mine on a large scale. The annual silver mined was about 20 taels. It is worthless, only 20 yuan, all of which are used to supplement military expenditures, buy mutton, improve food for soldiers, and so on.

Later, Liu Ziyu took over as the economic envoy of Xihe Road. He was very cautious and advocated that the mine should only be mined and not smelted, and that we should wait until the time was right to smelt it. As a result, we hoarded a large amount of ore and never had a chance to smelt it. "

Chen Qing realized it in his heart, exactly as he guessed, the silver mine should be secretly mined by the Western Army, so the government didn't know the existence of the silver mine, and the [-] catties of crude silver that the Xixia people got was smelted with the ore hoarded for many years come out.

"You are also one of the participants!"

Wu Hongwei nodded silently, "Humble job is actually the second mine manager, and he also serves as the magistrate of Guichuan County."

"The Xixia people are now mining silver mines, you know it too!"

Wu Hongwei sighed, "There's nothing a humble official can do if they know. The Xixia army is good at collecting information. They should have known the existence of the silver mine a long time ago. The Xixia's spying on Lintao Mansion may also be related to the silver mine!"

Chen Qing walked a few steps with his hands behind his back and said, "I understand the situation, you take over the county government first, and work with Huang Yaozong to stabilize the people's hearts in Didao County."

In the afternoon, the Song army scouts sent the latest news. When more than [-] soldiers of the Xixia army arrived forty miles north of Didao County, they turned west and went westward, and their whereabouts were unknown.

This news made Chen Qing vigilant. He immediately opened the map and sent someone to find Wu Hongwei.

Not long after, Wu Hongwei, who had already changed into a county magistrate's uniform, rushed over, bowed and said, "Is there anything wrong with the Jiedu envoy looking for a lowly position?"

"I want to ask you about the road conditions!"

Chen Qing pointed to the map and said: "The scouts just sent the latest news that the [-] Xixia army turned westward from the forty miles north of Didao County, but I didn't find any roads on the map. How did you get back?" thing?"

Wu Hongwei hesitated for a moment and said: "The road mentioned by Jiedushi is probably the old official road. After the new official road was built, no one left the old official road. It has been abandoned for at least 20 years. The map was drawn later, so the old official roads are not marked."

"Abandoned for 20 years, can you go?"

"You can definitely walk. The cavalry road was built back then. The rammed earth is very strong, but it is at least a hundred miles northerly than the new official road, which is very inconvenient. It is mainly to meet the northern official road."

"Where does it mean that it's a hundred miles away?"